Today's vehicles typically come equipped with an assembly line diagnostic link (ALDL) mounted, for example, on the driver's side underneath the dash. This link provides external line access to a vehicle system bus connecting multiple vehicle processors. Ideally, these vehicle processors come preloaded with all of the software needed to operate their respective vehicle component systems. As a result, calibration data alone may be added through the ALDL once the vehicle is assembled and started so that the calibration data can be generated.
Sometimes, however, it is necessary to upgrade, replace, or otherwise supplement the software in a processor based on slight variations and/or progressive changes in vehicle component systems. It may similarly be necessary to supplement the software based on different, possible combinations of component systems and related processors. In such cases, it is inconvenient to reprogram the processors prior to assembly, and assembly lines may therefore incorporate a supplemental software loading stage after assembly and before first starting of the vehicle. During this stage, a two-way link is typically formed by wire between a stationary external processor and the vehicle processors via the ALDL connection. Unfortunately, the ALDL connection is typically slow, and a bottleneck in production may therefore be created at the end of the assembly line.
There have been some attempts to ease the bottleneck in production caused by the slow ALDL link. Such solutions include, for example, a faster bus, such as an improved controller area network (CAN) system bus that allows parallel flash programming of the multiple processors. This solution allows faster overall programming of multiple vehicle processors. Also, external processors have been made portable and mountable to the vehicle steering wheel. This solution allows the supplemental programming process to begin before the end of the assembly line. However, the portable, external processors cannot be introduced to the vehicles until the ALDLs and the steering wheels have been added to the vehicles. Also, these processors are expensive due to specialized form and function, and multiple external processors are further required to allow mounting in the vehicles as they move down the assembly line. Therefore, the need remains for a solution to the aforementioned problems that reduces expense and saves time in the assembly process. The present invention fulfills this need.